Botanic Bleu: Living Room Oak Floor Renovation Finished

The living room oak floor renovation is finished, and we love how it turned out. The room feels so much brighter with the fresh white wash finish, but there are still follow-up things to do.

The living room furniture is back in place, but not all of the room's accessories are back in place. Since all of the furniture had to be moved out of the room for the floor to be sanded, stained, and sealed, this is a great opportunity to make some changes.

DURING PHOTO

The house is getting a deep cleaning since sawdust and dirt landed everywhere during the floor refinishing process. Every surface is being wiped down, vacuumed, washed, polished, and cleaned. Scaffolding was used to reach the upper parts of the living room window wall to clean the walls, windows, posts, and beams.

AFTER PHOTO

One major change is the rug. Previously there was a much larger needlepoint wool rug that became misshapen over time and has small holes from insects. The background is black which discolored the wood floor through the rug pad underneath it.

The new smaller rug brightens the room since there is so much white in the pattern. Plus the dark blue goes with the room's colors better than the older rug with its black background.

In the dining area of the living room, the dishes need to be returned to the china cabinet. Since the china cabinet had become overcrowded and needs to be decluttered, many of the dishes will not be returned to the china cabinet.

This area also had two counter stool chairs sitting on either side of the china cabinet which are now making someone very happy at Goodwill.

The counter stools were so comfortable, but their cane seats need repairing. I finally decided to take them to Goodwill instead of spending time working on them. Their style is modern which does not fit with my overall design of French Country.

I love the look of the room without drapes. We did not have drapes for the first couple of years after we built the house, but really do need them to control privacy, light infiltration, and temperatures.

When I am in the house by myself at night, I like to close the drapes. That makes me feel more secure since people cannot see who is in the house or where they are in the house.

During the summer, the drapes help block the strong sunlight. During the winter, the drapes help keep the room warmer by adding layers of insulation over the French doors.

A rustic basket of fresh bedding plants and ivies adds a touch of Spring to the blanket box used as a coffee table. I am considering replacing the blanket box with a wooden coffee table with French style curved legs. Refinishing the floor has opened my mind to new possibilities for furniture changes.

The floor was finished the week before Easter and just in time for some Easter decorations.

The music stand by the fireplace displays a magazine spread about white hares in England with perfect colors and photos for the living room at Easter.

What is it about Spring that invites refreshing our homes with renovations, Spring cleaning, and planting flowers? The freshly cleaned and renovated living room oak floor makes my heart happy.

*****

There is still one more area with new flooring to see... the kitchen and breakfast sunspace. I just finished styling the plant stand that became a plate stand this Spring and moved it to a different spot in the sunspace.

Wait 'til you see the cutest moss bunny sitting on the top shelf!

Now, it is back to cleaning and touch-up painting...